Hawthorns form is harming bid for automatic promotion
ALBION’S automatic promotion prospects suffered a setback when they were held at home by Nottingham Forest.
The Baggies twice fought back to salvage a point courtesy of Jay Rodriguez’s controversial late spot-kick. Here are the main talking points.
Home is where the hurt is
It’s just as well the Baggies are firing on the road because they can’t buy a win at The Hawthorns.
They have now won only one of their last seven league fixtures on home soil and this stalemate was against a Forest side who had lost four away matches on the spin.
Home form has to improve if the Baggies are serious about automatic promotion.
For the nervy occasion
“In that situation, if there’s someone you want to take a penalty it’s Jay,” said head coach Darren Moore after Rodriguez’s 89th-minute leveller.
If ever there was a man to get you out of a spot of bother it’s Rodriguez.
The £12 million forward has an impeccable record from 12 yards this season with six out of six, though none of his previous five spot-kicks carried anything like the pressure of his penalty against Forest. There was so much riding on it. A precious point, but also the momentum that would have been lost heading into a massive local derby against Villa on the back of a home defeat.
Rodriguez never looked like missing. Maybe that’s because he “practices them a lot” or because he just has a habit of scoring against Forest, like Dwight Gayle with Stoke.
That’s six goals in six league appearances against the Reds.
Defensive errors
West Brom aren’t exactly making it hard for teams to score against them, especially on their own patch. It’s not like they withstand untold pressure before they finally crack. They are presenting chances on a plate to the opposition. Both goals conceded on